EC report confirms challenge of high energy prices for ceramic industry

On 22 January 2014 the European Commission presented three communications on the 2030 climate and energy framework, industrial renaissance and energy prices. The latter was accompanied by a report on energy prices and costs for some energy-intensive sectors, including the ceramic sectors of bricks & roof tiles and wall & floor tiles. To prepare this document, the European Commission used a study developed by CEPS, to which the ceramic industry actively contributed in 2013 by providing data and figures as required by the consultant. Cerame-Unie, the European Ceramic Industry Association of which TBE is a member, has prepared a summary with the main findings for the ceramic industry. 

The report shows that natural gas prices for European ceramic companies have increased by around 30% between 2010 and 2012 and they are four times higher than in Russia and more than three times higher than in the USA. Similarly, electricity costs may be more than two times higher in the EU than in the USA and Russia. Such figures clearly confirm that energy, which represents around 30% of production costs in the ceramic sector, is a crucial element for the competitiveness of our industry.

Figures collected in the report also show that energy prices for European ceramic manufacturers are up to 28% higher than for other EU-based energy intensive sectors for gas, and up to 159% higher for electricity, which is largely due to the fact that the ceramic sector is mainly composed of SMEs. 

CEOs from TBE member companies sign IFIEC Manifesto

On 27 February IFIEC Europe, the International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers, published a Manifesto calling for the 2030 strategy to be streamlined towards growth and jobs. The Manifesto was signed by over 130 CEOs from Europe's manufacturing industry including several CEOs from TBE member companies. It was presented at a press conference held at the Hotel Silken Berlaymont in Brussels. 

IFIEC Manifesto

Press release

List of CEOs

Delegated act on DoPs on websites published in Official Journal of the EU

On 21 February 2014 the delegated act to supply Declaration of Performances (DoPs) on the websites of manufacturers of construction products was finally published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

From now on, the manufacturers of construction products can supply the DoPs through their websites instead of supplying them in paper form or by electronic means (e.g. email, fax, QR-code, etc).

Please follow this link to see the final delegated act.

This document provides the rules for placing DoPs on websites.

Please find below a summary of the delegated act:

• The delegated act does not derogate article 7(2) of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). Hence, the manufacturer shall supply the DoP in paper form if the recipient requests it.
• The manufacturer and other stakeholders in the construction chain have the same responsibilities as before. The delegated act covers the ways in which the document can be supplied.
• Manufacturers cannot alter the DoP once it is placed on the website and it must be accessible for at least 10 years after the construction product has been made available on the market.
• Manufacturers need to constantly monitor their website to ensure that the DoPs are always available to the recipients.
• Manufacturers shall provide instructions to the recipients on how to access the online DoP.
• Manufacturers shall make sure that each product is linked to a given DoP by means of the unique identification code of the product-type.
• The website must be free of charge.

2013 TBE Congress, Moscow

In October 2013 TBE members gathered in Moscow for the annual TBE Congress meetings. Around 100 members participated in technical and social meetings, which resulted in a very successful two-day event. 

The meetings started on Thursday 3 October with our combined masonry and roof tile product group meeting, where experts from national associations and companies had the opportunity to discuss the latest initiatives on standardisation, legislation and other technical issues. Members then took part in the masonry and roof tile product group meetings which were held separately. The working day finished with the meeting of the Executive Committee.

The evening programme took place at the cultural and entertainment complex Kremlin in Izmailovo, where members gathered for a gala dinner accompanied by traditional Russian music and ballet.

The General Assembly was held in the morning of 4 October at the hotel Borodino. After discussing administrative and financial items, the conveners of the TBE working groups reported on the activities undertaken in the last year. The members also had the opportunity to discuss the most important challenges ahead, namely the revision of the carbon leakage list, the finalisation of the Product Category Rules (PCRs) for clay construction materials and the 2014 World Sustainable Building Conference in Barcelona.

The meeting was followed by a series of presentations given by guest speakers: Mr Loschenko, President of the National Association of Construction Industry; Mr Schauff, CEO of the Association of European Businesses in the Russian Federation; Mr Gavrilov, CEO of the Russian Association of manufacturers of ceramic wall materials; Mr Bindenman, Russian architect. The official meetings were closed with the presentation of certificates of sponsorship.

Members staying in Moscow through Friday afternoon and the weekend had the opportunity to attend further social activities and to visit some of Moscow’s beauties, such as the Red Square and the Kremlin.

2012 Affordable and energy-efficient buildings stakeholder workshop

Financing energy-efficient buildings: How the EU can contribute to affordable housing

INTRODUCTION

Access to affordable housing is a social priority, as housing is recognised as a right of European citizens in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. At the same time, investments in housing contribute to the achievement of EU climate targets, as the building sector represents 40% of the total energy demand.

Within the debate on the future EU cohesion policy, the workshop offered an interesting opportunity for policy-makers and stakeholders to discuss the challenge of affordable and energy-efficient housing. In this field, the EU can play a major role through a consistent regulatory framework and better access to financial resources, including the ERDF.

This Stakeholder Workshop has also been included in the programme of the OPEN DAYS 2012 side events.

Over 100 manufacturers from associations across Europe and representatives of the European Institutions participated in the enriching discussions.

SPEAKERS

Thanks again to the speakers for a very successful event:

MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz (Host),  Paul Jeffrey, Ecorys UK;  Stephen Duffy, European Commission, DG Regional Policy; MEP Lambert Van Nistelrooij, Vice-President European Parliament Urban intergroup; Heimo Scheuch, TBE President; Antonio Paparella, European Commission, DG Enterprise; Paul Hodson, European Commission, DG Energy; Claire Roumet, CECODHAS (Chair)

2012 Near Zero-Energy Buildings workshop

The road to near zero-energy buildings: Best practice cases in the housing sector

INTRODUCTION

This second workshop is included in the programme of the 2012 European Sustainable Energy Week.  

Objectives

Sustainability and energy efficiency are two of the most important aspects of construction, both for new build and retrofits. To realise our vision of healthy, energy-efficient and sustainable buildings that are both attractive and affordable, we need to look at the best examples and discuss how these may be used for future project developments. So in this half-day workshop, participants will discuss how the nearly zero energy building objectives will be implemented in different countries. They will exchange ideas on best practices, from products to architectural projects. We will understand how national initiatives are trying to achieve the EU targets. Last but not least, participants will hear from the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) rapporteur, Mr Claude Turmes, on how the EED may drive the EU energy efficiency policy across the EU. Mr Claude Turmes is a Member of the European Parliament for Luxembourg's Green Party and rapporteur for the Energy Efficiency Directive, COM (2011)370.

WHO ATTENDED

This workshop was attended by manufacturers, trade associations representatives, CEN officials, students and architects. 

PRESENTATIONS

After MEP Claude Turmes' enlightening and dynamic introduction, eight presentations were made during the workshop, one by Mrs Jessica Johnson, followed by Mr Oliver Loebel, Mr Alexander Lehmdem, Mrs Isabelle Dorgeret, Mr Simon Hay, Mr Benoit Thielemans and Mrs Zsuzsa Tóth. 

Check out the pictures and the album.

Thank you again to the speakers for a very successful event.

TBE is a Build Up partner.

2012 TBE Congress, Brussels

In October 2012 TBE members gathered in Brussels for the annual TBE Congress meetings, which also presented an occasion to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the association. Around 100 members attended the technical, political and social meetings, which resulted in a very successful three-day event. 

The works started on Tuesday 9 October with our combined masonry and roof tile product group meeting, where experts from national associations and companies had the opportunity to discuss the latest initiatives on standardisation, legislation and other technical issues. Members of the Life Cycle Working Group then had the opportunity to discuss the latest developments concerning Product Category Rules (PCRs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).

The evening programme started with a cocktail at the Hotel Sofitel which was opened with a speech by Mr Caramelli, the President of the European Ceramic Technology Suppliers association (ECTS). The first day closed with an informal dinner accompanied by traditional Belgian beers at the premises of the theatre Arrière Scene.

On Wednesday 10 October members of the TBE Executive Committee met in the morning to discuss administrative matters, including accounts, budget and the official nomination of Adolfo Aiello as new TBE Secretary General. The General Assembly followed afterwards, with the official presentation of the TBE 60th anniversary brochure and reports from all the TBE Working Groups. The members had also the opportunity to watch the video developed by ECTS “Ceramics, modern life, modern buildings”, which was particularly appreciated. The meeting closed with presentations on the latest technology developments by the golden sponsors Handle and Sacmi.

More than 100 participants attended the stakeholder workshop on affordable energy efficient housing which was organised by TBE in the afternoon of the same day at the European Parliament. This workshop, which was also selected as a side-event of the European Week on Regions and Cities, was hosted by Mr Karl-Heinz Florenz, German Member of the European Parliament. Ms Claire Roumet, Secretary General of CECODHAS (the European Federation of social, cooperative and public housing) chaired a high level panel of speakers, which included Mr Lambert Van Nistelrooij (Vice-President of the European Parliament Urban intergroup), Mr Scheuch (TBE President), Mr Hodson (European Commission, DG Energy), Mr Paparella (European Commission, DG Enterprise) and Mr Duffy (Ecorys). The event stressed the importance of a consistent policy framework and better access to EU financial instruments in order to promote investments in new energy efficient buildings and the renovation of the existing building stock.

The gala dinner was held at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science, amongst the world’s largest dinosaur collection. The evening started with the speech by Mr Hahn, Commissioner for Regional Policy, who received a copy of the TBE brochure “Residential construction works: a win-win situation”. TBE members had the opportunity to meet with several special guests, including Mr Harbour and Mr Rübig from the European Parliament. The dinner was accompanied by the Belgian band Superjazz.

On Thursday 11 October TBE Members enjoyed an architectural visit through the art nouveau and art deco buildings in Brussels.

2012 PCR Stakeholder Workshop

Measuring sustainability in construction: Building coherent tools with Product Category Rules (PCRs)

INTRODUCTION

Today, it is no longer acceptable for a manufacturer to claim that its products are sustainable.  Transparent assessment and validation processes are now the norm with the Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) verified by qualified third party experts.

The use of EPDs is growing in the construction industry, both in the EU and internationally. This increase is being driven by both new legal requirements and voluntary schemes. Product Category Rules (PCRs) are the cornerstone on which we build our EPDs. PCRs provide guidance and rules for the collection of data, for the calculations and how this information should be presented.

Amongst the new legal requirements and voluntary schemes, CEN TC 350 has recently published a set of standards for the measurement of environmental impacts of construction products and whole buildings across the entire lifecycle. Some Member States and regions have developed their own EPDs schemes; others ask for a calculation of sustainability whilst EPDs cannot be drafted based on harmonized product standards. There are competing sources of data available and, last but not least, the EC is developing new environmental foot printing methodologies.

In theory, the level playing-field provided by PCRs enables comparability between different EPDs and provide reliable Life Cycle Assessment information for both manufacturers and purchasers. However, amongst the plethora of initiatives and requirements, there is now an urgent need to build a credible, transparent, and efficient infrastructure to support Life Cycle Assessment in the EU.

OBJECTIVES

In this half-day workshop, participants will explore activities already underway in the development of PCRs and EPDs and discuss the road ahead. Specifically, participants will be informed of the lasted developments that have taken place in certain Member States, in standardisation and at company level. Concerning EU policy, participants will discuss how EPDs may be used to drive the EU resource efficiency policy. More so, the foreseen Environmental Footprint of Products methodology will be presented and comments noted in order to respond to the on-going EC consultation on delivering more sustainable consumption and production. Finally, the workshop will close with a set of recommendations for continued PCR development.

WHO ATTENDED

This workshop was attended by EU officials from DG ENV, DG ENTR and the JRC, manufacturers, trade associations representatives, CEN officials, life cycle assessment practitioners, construction product distributers and architects. 

presentations

Six presentations were made during the workshop, one by Mr Pavel Misiga, followed by Mr Eric Gravier, Mrs Anita Ory, Mr David Pennington, Mr Roland Hischier, Mr Johannes Kreissig and Mr Chris Hamans. Numerous questions were asked and a brief summary can be found here. As this workshop was the starting point of a necessary process, the participants made recommendations for the next steps and Tiles & Bricks Europe is please to have helped set the scene for the next rounds of debate and exchange.

Check out the pictures and the album.

Thank you again to the speakers for a very successful event.

2011 Resource Efficiency & Standardisation

On Tuesday 13 December 2011, CEN and CENELEC organised a workshop in Brussels on "How to do more with less, standards for a resource efficient Europe". One of the main speakers was Mr Pavel Misiga, Head of Sustainable Consumption and Production, DG Environment. After the key note speakers, the participants were invited to take part in interactive sessions on industry examples and best practices in resource efficiency, standardisation experience and lessons learned on topics such as Ecodesign, Life Cycle Assessment and many others. One of the group discussions was chaired by Christophe Sykes who then reported back to the plenary.

The presentations can be found here.

The report outlining the major outcomes of the discussions held in the various groups should be available within 6 to 8 weeks.

2011 European Parliament Ceramics Forum (EPCF)

In view of the expected Communication on the sustainable competitiveness of the construction sector and its enterprises, our President, Dr Heimo Scheuch, presented the views of the industry at the European Parliament Ceramics Forum (EPCF) on 23 November 2011. The EPCF is a cross-party discussion group that facilitates dialogue between the EU institutions and the ceramic industry. It is currently co-chaired by UK MEPs Malcolm Harbour and Michael Cashman. 

Mr Antonio Paparella, Socio-Economic Analyst from the EC (DG ENTR), presented the principle ideas that could be included in the EC Communication, once it is finalised with publication expected during the first quarter of 2012. The presentation of Dr Scheuch can be found here.

For more information on the EPCF visit www.epceramicsforum.eu